There's lots of stuff to climb in Animal Kingdom.
And usually, there are lots of signs saying, "Please Don't Climb."
Not so in this cavey thing we found.
Tree of Life photo - Take #1.
Eyes closed.
Hmmm. Take #2.
A little corny.
Take #3.
Okay.
Not bad.
Except Tink in the tree.
Guess we'll roll with it.
I like these much better.
Katie LOVED Animal Kingdom.
I'll give you one guess why....
No. Not gluten free brownies.....
Yep. Animals.
We ended up taking about a dozen photos of Katie by this point in the morning because she was just so darn happy to be at Animal Kingdom.
Mikey was jealous.
He wanted some pictures too.
He demanded that I take exactly five pictures of him.
So, I did.
What a ham.
We had some time to kill before our first FP and it seemed like the grumps were setting in early.
Time for lunch!
We headed over to the Flame Tree BBQ for some yummy.
Flame Tree has fantastic outdoor seating situated in a tropical garden setting with a pond and statuary.
"Me hungry."
After lunch, it was safari time!
Katie had her camera at the ready!
There were LOTS of animals out and each one elicited a loud, "AWWWWWWWWWW" from Katie and Mikey.
Even the lions were out! Crazy.
We took a detour before our next FP and checked out the Flights of Wonder show.
Katie's favorite was the owl.
Somewhere in here, we rode the Kali River Rapids.
I took the brunt of the wetness.
I was surprised on how short the ride was.
No way I would wait an hour to ride this.
We stopped by a kiosk and learned about India.
The super friendly cast member happily wrote Mikey and Katie in Hindi.
Next, we paid a visit to our favorite motionless mythical beast, Disco Yeti.
Mikey was SO excited about riding Expedition Everest.
I forgot how fast and kinda rough this ride was.
Huzbend and I were really dizzy when we got off the ride.
I had to hold on to a display in the exit gift shop.
Really.
Maybe it was lack of oxygen.
Look at me!
Here's the "We Survived!" post ride photo.
They got a little silly.
The post-ride excitement didn't last long.
There was a crash after the adrenaline rush and Katie got the grumpies.
We decided to take a break in the nice air-conditioned Theater of the Wild and take in Finding Nemo: The Musical.
It was okay. The puppeteers were amazing and the guy that played Marlin did an excellent job.
Since we were right next door, we stopped in at DinoLand U.S.A.
The only ride in this park Mikey was not tall enough to ride was the Primeval Whirl, a wild mouse type spinning roller coaster.
So, Katie and Huzbend rode that and Mikey and I went on the TriceraTop Spin - a Dumbo type ride with dinosaurs.
After that, it was time to get the blood sugar back up.
Break time for Mikey Premium Ice Cream Bars and some frozen nut-covered banana thing for Huzbend.
This is hard to see, but it's a lizard on a baby dinosaur statue.
Katie wanted to take him home.
One last ride.
Dinosaur.
There was, like, no wait.
We didn't even get to hear Bill Nye The Science Guy's spiel.
Bummer.
The Carnotaurus that springs out at the end gets Huzbend every time.
He screams and jumps.
This time it got Mikey reallllll good.
Katie....well, she had her ears covered and her eyes shut the entire time.
This ride is EXTREMELY bumpy and I was afraid that because she wasn't holding on that she would bash her head, so I had to hold her up.
It's funny.
She had much the same reaction to this ride when she rode it with Huzbend, Grandpa and Granma during our 2010 visit.
I think Granpa was going to kick the Carnotaurus' butt.....
We survived Dinosaur with no concussions and headed back to the resort.
Before we left, we had to search around for a lion cub stuffie that Mikey had seen earlier in the day.
We found it and all was well.
The kids entertained themselves in the bus line with "finger dinosaurs" and the new lion cub, Cubbie.
Katie took a cute video of baby gorillas misbehaving.
Happy people.
I love cuddle time.
Especially if it's on a Disney bus.
Especially if it's on a Disney bus.
We got back to the room and the kids stuffies were taking a nap.
Giorgio Monkey looked very comfortable.
Mikey introduced Cubbie to his other favorite stuffies, Wolfie and Tiger.
We got the kids prepped and ready to head out.
It was hot date time!
I had booked a dinner at the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort for Huzbend and I to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
The kids spent the evening, along with their cousins, at Lilo's Playhouse, a childcare center located at the Poly Resort.
They ate dinner, baked gluten free chocolate chip cookies, did some kind of science experiment, watched movies, played video games and did all sorts of other fun stuff.
They had a blast.
Off to the Contemporary we went.
While waiting for our table, we hung out on the observation deck.
Before we were allowed up the exclusive elevator to the restaurant, Huzbend was asked to remove his hat.
I'm pretty sure the lady at the check in desk was not too happy with his shirt either.
There's a pirate giving "the finger" to a ninja on it.
Oh well.
We and fancy do not mix.
The food was delicious.
We had Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli for an appetizer.
We could've eaten these the rest of the night.
Scrumptious.
Huzbend had the chicken special - a tex-mex affair that had a tamale somewhere in there.
I had oak-fired filet of beef on bed of mashed potatoes.
Yummmmm.
I want to eat that again.
And then dessert.
We shared some kind of crème brulee and a strawberry shortcake.
The evening wasn't over yet.
We decided to visit Trader Sam's Grog Grotto back at the Poly.
This place is a must visit...unless you don't like being embarrassed.
It's 10 times worse than being sung a birthday song at a restaurant.
The décor is super cool. And since it was a Monday evening, there was NO LINE to get in!
Whoo-hooo for fantastic planning, if I do say so myself.
Why shy away from the crazy?
First up, we ordered the Uh-Oa.
The drink came to us on fire.
The server then threw cinnamon on the flames causing sparks to fly.
We had angered the Tiki goddess of disaster, Uh-Oa.
Then came the rain sound effects, wind, lightning and the pleasing volcano scenery out the windows was taken over by storm scenes.
We had to chant Uh-Oa over and over loudly until our server, Kory, was pleased with our performance and still then it wasn't enough to keep the goddess from awakening.
No. Seriously.
If you click the link above, you can see video.
We decided to give my mom and Kelly a ring and see what they were up to.
It turns out nothing! They were hanging out in their room.
We told them to come on over and join the fun.
The place is hilarious.
Drinks aren't too bad either.
Sweet. I like sweet.
After polishing off the Uh-Oa, most of it ending up in Huzbend, it was time to try another round.
I went with the "Polynesian Pearl" plucked from a giant clamshell.
Huzbend went with the "Shrunken Zombie Head" prompting our server to deliver it in pure shuffling zombie style and forcing him to kiss it before setting it down.
I believe my mom ordered "Rosita's Margarita" and Kelly the "HippopottoMai-Tai" ("TWO SHOTS OF RUM!").
That was quite enough imbibing for us and it was getting late.
We had to head over to the Playhouse to pick up the kids, who were, at the late hour of 11pm, wide awake!!!
We found our way back to our longhouses and said goodnight and goodbye.
Mom, Kelly and the cousins were leaving the next day.
We had an awesome time hanging in Disney World with you!!!!!
Katie's Favorite Parts of the Day:
- seeing her name in Hindi
- riding Kali River Rapids and laughing at Mommy getting all wet
- Lilo's Playhouse
Mikey's Favorite Part of the Day:
- buying Cubbie the stuffy
Mommy and Daddy's Favorite Part of the Day:
- Having a date night in Disney World!!!!
